EARLY ACTION 'MIGHT HAVE SAVED VAN'

THE lawyer for a German woman freed after facing execution in
Singapore on drug charges has criticised Australia's last-ditch bid
to save condemned Nguyen Tuong Van as too late.

Subhas Anandan, who represented Julia Suzanne Bohl - released earlier
this year despite originally being charged with possession of a
quantity of marijuana that would have brought the death penalty -
said the flurry of activity by Australian authorities was "like
visiting a dead person in hospital".

And he questioned why the Australian and Victorian governments would
mount "such a diplomatic effort" on behalf of Van after he was
convicted of heroin trafficking, rather than when he was first charged.

Van was arrested at Singapore's Changi Airport in December 2002
carrying 396g of heroin. The death penalty is mandatory for more than 15g.

Mr Anandan's comments came as Bob Hawke made an appeal to Singaporean
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, seeking his personal intervention to
stop Van's execution next Friday.

The former Labor prime minister confirmed he had sought clemency for
Van in a private letter to Mr Lee.

Mr Hawke was at the centre of the controversial capital punishment
case in 1986 in which the Australian drug traffickers Kevin Barlow
and Brian Chambers were sentenced to death in Malaysia. They were
hanged anyway.

In Singapore, Van's Australian lawyers applied yesterday to
authorities to witness his execution next week. "We owe it to him,"
said senior lawyer Lex Lasry QC.

The legal team has not given up hope of winning their fight for
clemency, despite John Howard ruling it out.

Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls yesterday met the Senior
Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee, to deliver a
letter from Premier Steve Bracks seeking clemency. He too was told
all avenues had been exhausted.

As Commonwealth leaders arrived in Malta last night for a three-day
summit, Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon played down the
prospects of the Van case being debated at the executive sessions.

Asked for a personal view on Singapore's decision to hang Van, the
New Zealander said it was "not appropriate at this time" to declare a
position. But he said a number of Commonwealth countries allowed
capital punishment.

Mr Anandan, president of the Singapore Criminal Lawyers Association,
said the only chance of saving Van would have been before he went to
trial, when prosecutors were finalising the charges and still had the
prerogative to make changes.

"What is the point in coming in now?" he said. "The President has
already refused clemency and the presiding judge in capital drug
cases has no discretion. Death is mandatory. It is like visiting a
patient in hospital when they are already dead."

Mr Anandan's German client, Ms Bohl, 23, was charged in March 2002
with drug trafficking after police seized 687g of marijuana and other
drugs from her Singapore apartment.

Under the city-state's sentencing laws, death is mandatory for anyone
caught with 500g or more of the drug. Mr Anandan said the German
ambassador and government immediately mounted a diplomatic campaign
on behalf of the young woman, meeting several senior Singaporean ministers.

Within months, several charges were dropped and she escaped the
gallows after the "pure" amount of drugs was found to be 281g.

Additional reporting: Brad Norington, Steve Lewis